Video Interviewing to Hire Talent

Video interviews are becoming much more common today than just a few years ago. Talented, in-demand candidates are busy and have tight schedules. The flexibility offered by video interviews increases the chances of connecting with top talent.

A recruiter is much more likely to interview a highly sought-after candidate if the whole process will only take about 15 minutes. Candidates typically have easy access to a webcam so they are beneficial to both parties.

Implementing video interviewing in the recruiting process:

Extends a company’s reach when seeking candidates;

Enables parties at different company locations to participate in an interview;

Saves the expenses and time associated with travel;

Enables recruiters to screen more potential candidates in less time; and,

Improves the time to hire.

There are two kinds of video interviews; one-way and two-way.

One-way video interviews are recorded interviews that can be watched by the recruiter or hiring manager at their convenience. There are numerous firms that offer this service to companies, some will even screen the candidates for you. Depending on your company’s capabilities, your IT department may be able to handle this in-house. Either way, the candidate records video of themselves answering your predetermined questions.

Two-way or live video interviews through applications like Skype™ or video calling like FaceTime® on your phone enable a recruiter to have a real-time conversation with the interviewee and numerous parties can participate. These video interviews are conducted much like a face-to-face interviews. Since they can be conducted almost anywhere, it’s very convenient for busy potential candidates.

The one-way video interview is typically more useful for a company that does high-volume recruiting. They are more impersonal than two-way video interviews but still have benefits. There’s more things to consider when implementing one-way video interviewing:

Consider whether or not one-way video interviewing is right for your organization –Does your company recruit large numbers of people? Will it save a significant amount of time or money? Will it help you substantially lower your time to hire? One-way video interviewing has a lot of benefits but isn’t necessary right for every company.

Give candidates a fair time frame to complete the video – Part of the reason for using one-way video interviewing is to speed up the time to hire, but don’t rush the candidates. Allow them at least a couple days for the video interview to be completed. That’s a fair amount of time for candidates to do their research and record the interview.

Will candidates get a do-over? - You may or may not have this option depending on the service you are using, but decide whether or not you will allow candidates another chance to record an answer if they mess up. If they only have one chance to record, make sure this is clearly communicated to them.

Carefully construct interview questions – Is the question clear? Will the candidate understand it without clarification? When we interview in-person, we don’t have to think about issues like that. If one party in a conversation is unsure, they can ask for clarification. One-way video interviewing removes that option. Be straight to the point and word questions as simply as possible.

Don’t forget about recording time limits – Make sure to factor in any recording time limits for each question. If the service you use allows two minutes for a response, don’t ask a question that requires ten minutes to answer.

Give candidates a break – If you choose to go this route, be prepared to see some terrible video interviews. Try to look beyond a candidates poor video skills and judge them based on their responses. This may be hard but don’t forget how difficult it is to talk to your webcam like a person.

Great post, Kelly! Being in the video interviewing space, here at Spark Hire we are definitely seeing the popularity of video interviewing technology growing by the day. It's a very exciting time and we're happy to be a part of it!

We recently launched a free e-Course that will be very beneficial to recruiters and will help them become video interviewing experts in just a few days. The “5-Day Crash Course to Video Interviewing” will go over basic information about video interviews, best practices, and strategies for ensuring a great candidate experience:http://resources.sparkhire.com/5-day-crash-course-to-video-interviewing/.

Yes, while it does add expediency and opens up the talent pool, it does take away the networking aspect. Networking is really what sets apart a good hire through understanding/getting to know very closely, the prospective hire and the job fit. It is something that just cannot be substituted with a one time electronic interaction. The whole aim being to hire for the long term, a company would prefer to make fewer hiring mistakes which can be very detrimental and expensive in the long run.